Streets ahead 

Grosvenor’s investment is helping to transform Mount Street into one of London’s most exclusive retail areas.

Have you noticed the Mount Street olives? They’re in planters and form two elegant lines at the entrance to Mount Street Gardens. They were installed as part of a £4m public-realm improvement scheme by property owner Grosvenor.

Soon, a water feature by world-class architect Tadao Ando will be installed on the island outside the Connaught Hotel, creating a focal point at the eastern entrance of a street that used to be a Mecca for antiques and fine art.
 
Today, instead of antiques shops, you can see a reinvented Mount Street full of the world’s super brands: Balenciaga, Lanvin and Christian Louboutin. Their presence completes Grosvenor’s vision of an area that is even more exclusive than Bond Street, not dissimilar to the Place Vendôme in Paris.

“Grosvenor’s continued investment and encouragement can only add to the character, charm and future prospects of the area,” says multimillionaire Richard Caring, the entrepreneur behind Caprice Holdings, which owns Scott’s restaurant, the Mount Street Deli, Harry’s Bar, Mark’s Club and George, as well as Annabel’s in Berkeley Square. “By taking the trouble to list brands and stand back and relate to the investment, Grosvenor has reconfirmed people’s confidence in the future of the entire area.”

It wasn’t just the retail mix that needed transformation, however. In 2007, a public-realm strategy that Grosvenor launched in collaboration with Gehl Architects identified, among other problems, a poor-quality streetscape, a lack of open spaces, uncoordinated street furniture, low levels of street cleanliness and weak entry points to Mount Street at both ends.

Thanks to Grosvenor’s investment, the area now benefits from better lighting – programmable and more in keeping with the street’s unique red terracotta architecture – along with high-quality York stone paving, parking bays marked out by granite sets and a less cluttered streetscape.